Schools, and in particular physical education (PE), have been increasingly recognised for the role that they play in promoting healthy, active lifestyles amongst children and young people in light of the public health agenda (Armour and Harris, 2013). However, whilst schools have been recognised for the role that they can play in promoting health to children and young people, concerns have been expressed with regard to the status of health in PE and the approaches and practices used to address health-related learning (Cale et al., 2016). A particular concern in this regard is what children and young people know and understand about health , and how they come to conceive this within PE, with a growing body of literature suggesting that pupils conceptions are relatively superficial and simplistic (see Harris et al. (2016) for an overview). Accordingly, the purpose of this research is to explore pupils conceptions of health within PE. The research was comprised of four phases which took place over an 18-month period within the East Midlands region of England. Phase one involved an online survey being distributed to all state secondary schools (n = 293) and with a total of 52 schools responding. Phase two involved semi-structured interviews being conducted with 13 PE teachers at two case study schools and focus groups with 117 pupils (aged 11-12) at the same schools. A participatory approach underpinned the study and relevant methods/techniques were employed within pupil focus groups to generate discussion and elicit pupils conceptions of health . Examples of the methods/techniques employed included: drawings, concept cartoons and statement sheets. Pupils worked interactively with one another to undertake and discuss tasks/activities in line with the youth voice agenda that underpinned the research. This agenda is often allied with participatory methods (Heath et al., 2009) and seeks to privilege the voices of younger participants, recognising that children and young people are competent social agents, capable of both understanding and articulating their own experiences (Christensen and James, 2008). Phase three involved follow-up focus groups with the same pupils who participated during the preceding phase, and a similar participatory approach was employed. Phase four involved semi-structured focus groups being conducted with the same PE teachers at each school. Data generated were analysed using a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis. The findings of the study highlight that the vast majority of pupils conceptions of health were reductive, limited and limiting. These conceptions of health were identified as being underpinned by: corporeal notions, aesthetic orientations and healthist influences. In addition, they aligned with normative conceptions of health , that were evidently influenced by public health discourses, which may well have been promulgated by and through PE. Whilst pupils did not necessarily consider that PE influenced their conceptions of health , there were evident links, which PE teachers themselves acknowledged and problematised. Positively, it was highlighted that there were some pupils who were able to disrupt normative conceptions of health and, in doing so, they demonstrated their capacity for criticality. As such, the challenge for PE is now to consider how it might support pupils to develop their capacities to receive, interpret and be critical of health-related information. If it can do so, it may well be that critically-inclined conceptions of health can be fostered within, through and by the subject.

Syftet med denna kvalitativa intervjustudie var att få förståelse för hur socialsekreterarnas handlingsutrymme och kunskap används vid placeringsöverväganden av barn och unga i samhällsvård. Med hjälp av våra frågeställningar ville vi få svar på, dels hur socialsekreterarna beskriver sitt handlingsutrymme vid placeringsöverväganden, dels hur socialsekreterarna förhåller sig till kunskap vid dessa bedömningar. Studiens intervjupersoner var socialsekreterare som har arbetat eller arbetar med att placera barn och unga. Utifrån det våra intervjupersoner har berättat är vår slutsats att socialsekreterarnas bedömningar påverkas av flera faktorer. Dessa faktorer var bland annat resursbrist, lagstiftning samt vägledning av arbetsledning. Kunskapskällor som socialsekreterarna använde sig av var klienternas och kollegornas erfarenheter samt egna erfarenheter. Socialsekreterarna nämnde inte handlingsutrymme i arbetet utan poängterade enbart de begränsningar de hade vid utförandet av arbetet. Vår tolkning är att socialsekreterare beskriver begränsningar och diskussionerna i arbetet kan vara en anledning till att den inte vill ensamt ansvara i de svåra bedömningarna. / This is a qualitative interview study, of how social workers´ used their discretion and knowledge when they consider placements of children and youths in out-of-home-care. In our study we wanted to answer these questions. The first question we wanted to answer was how social workers´ describe their discretion in placement considerations. The second question was how social workers´ use knowledge in these judgments. The study's respondents were social workers´ who have worked or still working with children in out-of-home-care. Based on what our interviewees told, we came to the conclusion that social workers´ judgments’ are subject to several factors. These factors included lack of resources, legislation and supervision of management. However, the study revealed that social workers´ did not use research. Instead they used their own experiences, the clients´ actual situation and colleagues´ experiences as sources of knowledge. Social workers´ did not mention their discretion, but pointed out the limitations they had in performing the work. Their answers indicated that they did not want to be responsible in these difficult judgments and therefore they used their colleagues´ and the management.

Aim: A wealth of quantitative literature exists exploring the adjustment of children and young people with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. However, results are often confusing and contradictory, at least partly due to studies using different definitions and measures. Studies have been criticised for over relying on parental reports and failing to consider young people’s own perceptions. Furthermore, they have often conceptualised adjustment as an outcome, rather than exploring the process involved. Additionally, although peers are considered to play an important role in young people’s lives, their role in young people’s adjustment to living with diabetes has rarely been examined. To address this gap, this study attempted to gain a rich understanding of young people’s experiences of adjusting to life with diabetes and explore how they feel their peers have contributed to this process, with the hope of informing clinical practice and improving support to young people and their families. Method: A qualitative approach was chosen and six young females aged 12 – 15 with a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was used to analyse the transcripts. Results: Five main themes emerged from participants’ accounts: Developing a balanced relationship with diabetes; the uncomfortable position of difference; grappling with the fall out of diabetes; making diabetes more bearable; and the role of parents and friends. The findings are discussed in relation to the relevant literature. Clinical implications, methodological limitations and directions for future research are presented. Conclusions: This study provided an insight into the complex and dynamic process of young people’s adjustment to life with Type 1 diabetes. It highlighted the challenges and struggles they faced as a result of their diagnosis and the different strategies they employed to manage these. It also emphasised the valuable role both parents and friends provide in supporting young people with their illness.

Syftet med den här studien var att ta reda hur familjehemsföräldrar upplever sitt uppdrag och det ansvar som uppdraget medför, vad som ger familjehemsföräldrar drivkraften att fortsätta med uppdragen, samt vilken känslomässig relation familjehemsföräldrar upplever att de får till de placerade barnen. Studien består av sex intervjuer med olika typer av familjehem, varav fem enskilda intervjuer och en parintervju. Det insamlade materialet analyserades med innehållsanalys. Tre teman framträdde i resultatet vilka var: Uppdraget som familjehem, varför familjehem och vardag som familjehem. Resultatet analyserades sedan utifrån tidigare forskning samt Antonovskys begrepp känsla av sammanhang, KASAM, och Bowlbys anknytningsteori. Resultatet visade att familjehemmen har olika synsätt beroende på hur länge de har varit familjehem, vilken typ av placeringar de haft och har, men framförallt av vilken anledning familjehemmet blev familjehem från början. / The purpose of this study was to figure out how foster parents view their task and the responsibilities that the task entails, what gives foster parents motivation to continue with the mission, as well as what kind of emotional attachment the foster parents experience they get to the placed children. This study consists of six interviews, of which five of them were individual and one pair interview. The gathered material was analyzed from content analysis. Three themes emerged in the results which were: The mission as a foster family, why foster family and the everyday of foster families. The results were then analyzed through previous research along with Antonovskys concept sense of coherence, SOC and Bowlbys attachment theory. The results showed that foster families have different views depending on how long they have been foster families, what kind of children they’ve had but above all, what motivated them to start a foster family.

Aim: The aim of the study has been to study how a Swedish state authority talks about mental health among children and young people. Method: The study is based on a qualitative discourse analysis in which the Public Health Authority's report was carefully studied. Results: The essay highlights how a Swedish authority presents various factors that affect a child's mental well-being. The Public Health Authority describes the discourse on health as good when healthy lifestyles are anchored at an early age as it affects health for the rest of life. Texts produced within the discourse, just as the report produced by the Public Health Authority, recommend good health habits to be introduced in an early stage of a child's life. To understand what these habits are, the authority describes social practices which govern people's experience of the current discourse. The social practices recommendations guide people to act so that they are given the conditions to create healthy habits and relationships at an early age. The analysis of the report shows two dominant categories that affect children's and young people's mental health, the school and the family. These areas are the main parts that the report describes where several identity perceptions have been identified. The identity perceptions are used to categorize the individual and create a recognition to find a place in society and to its discourses. Based on the different perceptions of identity, it is then determined how the individual's surroundings and actions are perceived.

The age range at diagnosis, complexity of the condition, and sensitive nature of the issues involved in a diagnosis of Turner syndrome (TS), present specific challenges for health professionals in sharing information. Little is known about the perceived information needs of girls with TS and their parents. A flexible qualitative design, guided by the principles of symbolic interactionism was employed in this exploratory study. This design enabled meanings girls and their parents attached to TS, how they interpreted, shared and valued information to be uncovered. A purposive sample of 15 families with daughters aged 9 to 16 years were recruited from a tertiary paediatric endocrinology clinic. Girls and parents participated in a total of 27 recorded semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using the framework approach and the constant comparative method. Analysis revealed how girls and their parents interpreted and used information within the context of their everyday experiences of living with TS. Three activities were described by families: gathering and receiving, making sense of, and using and sharing information. Throughout these activities, themes of uncertainty, normalising and identity were present. A series of tensions described by the girls and their parents illustrated diverse approaches to the management of information. Meanings assigned to TS by girls and their parents influenced when, what and how information was shared with others. Despite a wealth of information, the girls and their parents described unfulfilled information needs. The interviews were dominated by discussion of the social implications of the condition and more specifically to social functioning, puberty and infertility. Parents were the primary source of information. These findings provide a basis for developing evidence based approaches to information sharing.

In my master thesis I consider the individual planning agenda within low-threshold clubs for children and young people. Within my thesis I focus on determination of the terms "individual planning" and "low-threshold club for children and young people" especially I am focused on "Nízkoprahový klub Husita" low-threshold club. The nature of my thesis is theoretical - researching and its main goal is to increase the quality of individual planning agenda in NPK Husita. The practical part of my work is focused on analysing individual plans made in 2019, pointing out the difference between them according to the age of the person making the plan, their topics, style and setting the targets of the plans according to the individual planning agenda.

There is renewed interest in the role that direct work and relationship-based practice does, should, or could play, in social work practice with children and young people. This study used a qualitative approach to explore day-to-day direct work with children and young people who are ‘looked after’ at home, from the perspectives of children, social workers and those supervising practice. The thesis explores the meanings ascribed to direct work, and identifies factors which enable direct work, and those which act as barriers. The research was undertaken in Scotland, and although the legislation, policy, and guidance underpinning practice differ from other jurisdictions, the messages to emerge are relevant across the UK and beyond. The study found that despite the existence of barriers, direct work which is characterised as meaningful by children, young people and professionals does happen; and that the relationships formed between children and social workers are both a precursor to and an outcome of direct work. A core theme is that although individual relationships are central, the everyday encounters between children and their social workers need to be understood and situated within the personal, professional and structural contexts in which they take place.

Esta dissertação tem como objetivo identificar a presença do espaço sagrado na Literatura para Crianças e Jovens. Para isso, utilizamos como eixo teóricometodológico propostas sociológicas e antropológicas sobre o sagrado e sua relação com o homem. Como um substrato para mitos, ritos e arquétipos, o sagrado tem permeado a Literatura para Crianças e Jovens, revelando o homem e sua relação com suas crenças. Em diversas obras, evidencia-se como um elemento essencial e norteador do ser que o aceita. Assim, recorrendo ao estudo de temas (tematologia) como método comparativista, objetivamos identificar a configuração do espaço sagrado, pela oralidade, em duas obras: A menina de lá, de Guimarães Rosa, e O beijo da palavrinha, de Mia Couto. Além disso, pelo mesmo método comparativista, analisaremos as obras As Crônicas de Nárnia: o leão, a feiticeira e o guarda-roupa, de C. S. Lewis e Cibermãe, de Alexandre Jardin, com o objetivo de identificar o retorno do sagrado nos dias atuais e, verificar que o sagrado não se limita a épocas, mas até mesmo na modernidade o homem o busca. / This essay aims at identifying the presence of the sacred space in the literature geared at children and young people. For this we used the theoretical - methodological axis as the sociological and anthropological proposals on other sacred and its relationship with man. As a basis for myths, rites and models, the sacred has permeated literature for children and young people, revealing man and his relation to his beliefs. In several literary works, the sacred is highlighted as an essential element and a guide for the man who accepts it. Likewise, resorting to the study of themes as a comparative method, we aim to identify the sacred space by oral sources in two works: A menina de lá, by Guimarães Rosa and O beijo da palavrinha by Mia Couto. According to the same comparative method, we will analyze the following works: The chronicles of Narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and Cybermother by Alexander Jardin, aiming in both cases to identify the return of the sacred to the present day, observing that the sacred does not limit itself to periods, but man searches for it even in modern days.

Motivational interviewing (MI) has been used extensively and often effectively in medical settings to support behaviour change in adults. There is emerging evidence that MI may also be a useful approach for working with young people in schools. This thesis investigated the effectiveness of MI in educational settings and is presented in three sections. The first paper is an evaluative systematic literature review examining the evidence for student-focused MI in educational settings. Eleven studies were included in the review, although just eight were identified as 'best evidence' and included in the synthesis. Overall there is evidence for the effectiveness of student-focused MI in the areas of behaviour, school-based motivation and academic achievement. However, a number of methodological weaknesses were identified in the existing literature, which provides clear pointers for future research. Previous research has highlighted the potential usefulness of MI when used as a therapeutic intervention with disaffected students. However, to date, there has been little published research investigating students' views on MI. The second paper aims to investigate students' views on an MI intervention. Three disaffected students took part in an individual MI intervention, which was delivered by three educational psychologists (EPs). Semi-structured interviews were used to obtain the students' views, immediately after the intervention and again at a follow-up interview three months later. The results indicated that students were enthusiastic about the intervention and most perceived that there had been a positive impact on their learning motivation and classroom behaviour. However, these results were not consistent with questionnaire responses and two of the students experienced exclusions around the time of the intervention. The implications of these ambiguous findings are discussed in relation to the use of therapeutic interventions by EPs and the possible factors that are crucial to the success of MI interventions. The third paper provides a critical appraisal of the overall research process, including implications of the work, wider context of the research and dissemination of evidence to professional practice.